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14 Comments:

I am very impressed with Fred Thompson's performance in the last debate.

I don't know about you, but I have no desire to live in the Clinton, Obama, or Edwards proposed nanny state.

Nor would I be content to see the Republican party continue down a road of bigger government.

Fred Thompson is the only candidate with a conservative record to back the conservative rhetoric. And just as important, he has the presence and an ability to articulate conservative principles to a national audience.

Like many, I've seen McCain on the national stage for quite some time. I think that familiar factor is helping him as well as some of the recent endorsement.

Unfortunately, McCain is not right for the country and not right for Iowa and the caucus goers will reject him outright, but with a nice 3rd place finish - just in front of Thompson and well behind Huckabee and Romney.

I have the most experience, and I will veto any pork-barrel spending bill that comes across my desk and make the responsible party pay an illegal alien to come to America... I mean, not anymore..., bad idea...

TRANSLATION:

"I have the most experience..." ==> "I'm getting REALLY OLD!"

"and I will veto any pork-barrel spending bill that comes across my desk" ==> "I'm serious. I will. Please let me have that desk!!!"

"and make the responsible party pay an illegal alien to come to America... I mean, not anymore..., bad idea..." ==> "flip-flop-flip"

"I'm the only one of the candidates who _____________________." (Fill in the blank.) Almost anything will do. For example: "...who had to work for a living...", "...who believes in the real Jesus...", "...who is getting persecuted for my religion", "...who wants to take care of poor and hungry people...", "...who made eduction a priority..." "...who has a Master's degree in Theology... or religion... or speech... or something... or was that just a bachelors?... I don't remember... but I do have a degree which makes me the only one "...who can deal with extremist muslims.""

It was not a bitterly cold day — temperatures were somewhere in the high 30s — and doing a downtown walk would have been a perfectly normal political event.

Such walks are staples of retail politics, the kind of politics conducted in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, where people expect to meet the candidates one on one and not just at rallies and speeches.

The Waverly Democrat, a semi-weekly newspaper, is located right on the main street in town, which is called Bremer Avenue. (Waverly is the county seat of Bremer County.)

Waverly has a population of about 9,000, and while Bremer Avenue was not exactly thronged this day, people were in the shops, and potential voters were definitely out and about doing shopping or sitting in the diners.

Mark Halperin of Time magazine and I drove up to Waverly to catch the Thompson walkabout, and since we got there early, we popped into the offices of the Waverly Democrat.

Anelia Dimitrova, the executive regional editor, greeted us in warmly and invited us to have a seat, chat and use the bathroom. She offered Mark a high-speed Internet line so he could upload some video to his website and I sat down with her for a brief interview.

She said Thompson was the first candidate to come into the paper. The paper does not endorse candidates, and maybe that is why the others have skipped it. “He’s got a lot of catching up to do,” Dimitrova said. “I think it’s a sign he is behind. I don’t think he necessarily wants to run. Bluntly, I don’t know why he is running.”

This is the question that has dogged the Thompson campaign from the beginning. While sometimes he displays bursts of energy at a speech here or there, he is often described as “laconic” on the road.

Thompson, his entourage and his wife, Jeri, arrived at the newspaper and after exchanging a few pleasantries, Thompson headed in to his meeting with Dimitrova in a conference room.

Dimitrova invited Mark and me into the interview with Thompson but the Thompson press aide refused. Dimitrova said she had no problem with us being there, but the press aide refused again.

It was no big deal. We waited for Thompson outside the conference room and after a few minutes he emerged, left the newspaper office and headed straight onto his large, brown bus.

But what happened to the “tour of downtown Waverly” that was on his schedule?

Canceled. Not going to happen. He was not going to walk the streets of Waverly in search of voters.

Instead, Thompson rode four blocks to the local fire station. Local fire stations always have captive audiences (unless there is a fire).

Inside, Thompson shook a few hands — there were only about 15 people there — and then Chief Dan McKenzie handed Thompson the chief’s fire hat so Thompson could put it on.

Mike Huckabee 10-9
Mitt Romney 3-1
Fred Thompson 9-1
John McCain 9-1
Rudy Giuliani 12-1
Ron Paul 12-1
Duncan Hunter 98-1
The Cooler line is an exclusive creation of Caucus Cooler and will be updated as the political environment changes.
It is an unscientific assessment of the Iowa Caucus (not the Presidential race as a whole) from an insiders view at the given time. The line IS NOW mathematically accurate but is NOT intended for gambling purposes. Information may only be reproduced with credit to the Caucus Cooler.